The Addiction Nurse Practitioner Fellowship program strives for excellence in clinical training, scholarship, research, and advocacy and includes specialty training in inpatient and outpatient addiction management, as well as related concurrent disorders training. The program prepares Nurse Practitioners to work clinically to the full extent of their regulated scope in the field of addiction, as well as take leadership roles in academic and/or research settings.

OVERVIEW & ELIGIBILITY

New nurse practitioner fellows are accepted into the program from a range of clinical and academic backgrounds. The program runs from July 1 to June 30 (one year). There is some flexibility with the start date and duration; preference will be given to applicants who have secured their own funding.

Fellowship Overview

The program encourages learning experiences in a variety of settings, including residential recovery, withdrawal management, inpatient consultation, chronic pain, research, and other placements.

The program also encourages didactic learning experiences through a two-week academic block, journal clubs, research and presentation skills development, clinical and research skills workshops, and lectures with interdisciplinary trainees (e.g., medicine, social work, allied health).

There is flexibility in rotations based on experience and individual learning objectives.

Each Fellow’s rotations are tailored to learning objectives that are set with the Program Director.

A description of some of the training rotations can be found below.

Eligibility
The BCCSU Addiction Nurse Practitioner Fellowship accepts applications from nurse practitioners who are licensed to practice in BC through the College of Registered Nurses of BC. Applicants who are currently in Master’s or Doctoral programs and/or bring their own funding will be prioritized

Vancouver Detox provides an excellent clinical learning environment for medical withdrawal management and related care. Fellows will provide full assessments and management in this 25-bed inpatient medically supervised withdrawal management unit, and will be exposed to the full spectrum of inpatient medical withdrawal management patient care. A Daytox program for outpatient medical withdrawal management and early treatment, located in the same facility, is also part of this rotation.

Fellows will be involved with initial assessment and ongoing treatment of primary care outpatients with substance use disorders. A range of treatments are provided at Three Bridges, including opioid agonist maintenance treatment with methadone and buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone®), group and one-on-one counselling (e.g., matrix model, Seeking Safety), and outpatient withdrawal management. This is an excellent interdisciplinary learning environment; Three Bridges is highly experienced with hosting trainees and exposing them to a wide range of activities.

Home base for this rotation is the Heartwood Centre for Women, a tertiary, provincial 28-bed residential addiction treatment facility for cisgender and transgender women. Fellows will be involved with the full spectrum of treatment, from withdrawal management to group therapy. There will also be some exposure to Fir Square Combined Care Unit, an inpatient stabilization and withdrawal management unit at BC Women’s Hospital for care for women using substances and infants exposed to these substances.

The Pain Management Program at OrionHealth (Vancouver Pain Clinic) is an intensive outpatient program. Fellows will be responsible for observing and learning about medical assessments—including taking histories and physical examinations using screening instruments —to support an interdisciplinary care team in diagnosis and treatment planning for patients with chronic pain disorders, many of whom also have concurrent substance use disorders. Fellows will learn about opioid rotation, conversion to long-acting opioids, and opioid withdrawal management, and will also become very familiar with the use of antidepressants, anticonvulsants, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and other medication therapies.

St. Paul’s Hospital’s Inner City Youth Mental Health Program hosts this rotation, which combines outpatient assessments, long-term residential care management, and in-hospital care for youth between the ages of 16 and 25.

CURRENT & PAST FELLOWS

2013-14

MONICA GREGORY

2017-18

ZAK MATIESCHYN

SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS

St. Paul’s Hospital at Providence Health Care is an acute care, academic, and research hospital located in downtown Vancouver. With over 500 acute care beds in use and home to many world-leading medical and surgical programs, the hospital serves both the local community and patients from across BC. Its downtown location brings many of Vancouver’s tourists and visitors to its doors. St. Paul’s also has a longstanding history of providing care to disadvantaged populations. For more information about St. Paul’s Hospital, please click here.

From its inception in 2007, the Division of AIDS at the University of British Columbia has worked collaboratively with the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (est. 1992) and the AIDS Research Program at St. Paul’s Hospital / UBC (est. 1988). Our divisional members are involved in various areas of research in the area of HIV treatment and prevention. The Division places considerable emphasis on treating and preventing HIV infection among intravenous drug users. For more information about the UBC Division of AIDS, please click here.

The BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU) is a provincially networked resource with a mandate to develop, implement, and evaluate evidence-based approaches to substance use and addiction. The BCCSU focuses on three strategic areas: research and evaluation, education and training, and clinical care guidance. With the support of the province of British Columbia, the BCCSU hosts the largest interdisciplinary addiction medicine training program in North America, building capacity in the healthcare system in BC to improve access to evidence-based care. Although physically located in Vancouver, the BCCSU is a provincially networked resource for researchers, educators, and care providers, as well as people who use substances, family advocates, support groups, and the recovery community. It is hosted at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and Providence Health Care. For more information about the BCCSU, please click here.

The University of British Columbia (UBC), established in 1908, is one of Canada’s leading research universities, consistently ranked among the top 40 in the world. The university attracts 54,000 students from across Canada and 140 countries around the world to two major campuses. For more information about UBC, please click here.

St. Paul’s Foundation raises funds to support compassionate world-class care, research, and teaching at St. Paul’s Hospital. The BCCSU Addiction Medicine Fellowship is a partnership between St. Paul’s Foundation, St. Paul’s Hospital, the BC Centre on Substance Use, and the UBC Division of AIDS. The program was launched with a $3 million landmark donation to St. Paul’s Foundation, gifted by Goldcorp, Inc. The Foundation continues to secure additional funding to support the program. For more information, or to donate, please click here.

Vancouver Coastal Health is a regional health authority providing direct and contracted health services including primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary care; home and community care; mental health services; population and preventive health; and addictions services in part of Greater Vancouver and the Coast Garibaldi area. For more information, please click here.